I have an unknown decoder that came with my SD80MAC locomotive. I got the whole thing for less then the locomotive costs. The hobby shop owner told me it was one of the better DCC decoders that could also operate on DCC ( and this has been a real good hobby shop to me in the past, so i don't see why i shouldn't trust him) In DC, without the decoder, it runs fine. However, in DCC, there are several problems.
the first thing i noticed was that the lights would turn on and off whenevery i adjusted the speed. I wasn't sure why it was doing that. i kept running it though, because it seemed to be working motor wise. I hit the speed step button to got to 128, and the locomotive wouldn't start. I hit the speed step button again and set it to 14 speed steps, in which it ran fine, and the lights worked, but now makes a loud buzzing noise, and stop and stutters at low speeds.
At this point i figured that this decoder might have been a lower end decoder, but i popped open the shell to get a look at it. It appears to be missing a wire, and the decder end looks tampered with. there is hard, crumbly stuff coating the ends of the wires.the orange, grey, and black wires are bunched together by that stuff as well as the red and blue wires. the white and yellow wires seem untouched, but they go deeper into the shrink wrapping. the blue wire appeared to have just detached from the 8 pin plug now, but it may have been loose earlier. additionally, the terminal on the plug between the white and red wires was empty, and i figure an imporant wire probably goes there.
is this just a crappy decoder, or is something wrong with it?
chris
the first thing i noticed was that the lights would turn on and off whenevery i adjusted the speed. I wasn't sure why it was doing that. i kept running it though, because it seemed to be working motor wise. I hit the speed step button to got to 128, and the locomotive wouldn't start. I hit the speed step button again and set it to 14 speed steps, in which it ran fine, and the lights worked, but now makes a loud buzzing noise, and stop and stutters at low speeds.
At this point i figured that this decoder might have been a lower end decoder, but i popped open the shell to get a look at it. It appears to be missing a wire, and the decder end looks tampered with. there is hard, crumbly stuff coating the ends of the wires.the orange, grey, and black wires are bunched together by that stuff as well as the red and blue wires. the white and yellow wires seem untouched, but they go deeper into the shrink wrapping. the blue wire appeared to have just detached from the 8 pin plug now, but it may have been loose earlier. additionally, the terminal on the plug between the white and red wires was empty, and i figure an imporant wire probably goes there.
is this just a crappy decoder, or is something wrong with it?
chris